Benjamin Ratcliff
| Benjamin Ratcliff | |
|---|---|
Ratcliff mug shot at Colorado State Penitentiary c. 1895
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| Born |
October 21, 1841 Hocking County, Ohio, US |
| Died | February 7, 1896 (aged 54) Cañon City, Colorado |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging for the murder of three local school board members |
| Resting place | Unknown location in Park County, Colorado |
| Residence |
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| Occupation | Rancher |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Widower of Elizabeth McNair Ratcliff (married 1871-1882) |
| Children | 3 |
Benjamin Ratcliff (October 21, 1841 - February 7, 1896) was a homesteader near Jefferson in Park County in central Colorado, who was hanged for the murders of three members of his local school board with whom he had quarreled regarding the education of his children and slurs against his own reputation.
Born in Hocking County in southern Ohio, Ratcliff was the sixth of ten children of Elias Ratcliff and the former Elizabeth Dutcher. The family, including his younger sister Mary, moved in 1844 to Moniteau County near the capital city of Jefferson City in central Missouri. Elias died when Benjamin was ten years of age.
In 1861, at the beginning of the American Civil War, Ratcliff at nineteen enlisted in the Missouri Home Guard Service. A private in Company A of the 43rd Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, Ratcliff fought in the Battle of Shiloh, a Union victory in western Tennessee in early April 1862. While headed three weeks later to the Siege of Corinth in Corinth in northern Mississippi, Ratcliff's horse fell, tossed him from the saddle, and rolled onto Ratcliff's hip and legs. The accident caused a painful and permanent injury. During his life, Ratcliff had recurring hip problems, kidney stones, and a dislocated shoulder sustained in an 1880 cattle roundup in Fairplay, the county seat of Park County, Colorado.
In July 1862, he went to Jefferson City to join the regular United States Army. In 1864, Ratcliff fought in the Second Battle of Lexington in Lexington in Lafayette County, Missouri. There he was captured by the Confederates, who were successful in that battle. He escaped two days later on his 23rd birthday. While on the run, he spent a night hiding in a rut of wet grass, having recalled, "I took cold and the trouble has remained with me ever since." Ratcliff managed to avoid the Missouri raid of Confederate General Sterling Price and spent the remainder of the war within Union lines about Jefferson City.
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Wikipedia